Putting Yourself Out There
by ragingscooter
Summary: Gail has had yet another bad blind date and Holly is there to offer a different option.


_Takes place during season 4 before 4x10. I just wanted a little drama free Golly interaction._

Gail pov

Gail took a sip of her over priced coffee and gazed over the shoulder of the man siting opposite her and noticed a woman that was wearing an ugly green coat that reminded her of Holly's life preserver jacket that she wore the day they first met. Funny how a lot of things reminded her of Holly lately. Gail wasn't sure what to make of whatever you wanted to call her thing with Holly was; were they friends? Work colleagues that spent an unusual amount of time together, surely they were more than that but she didn't know how to label them. One thing she did know was that Holly was a hell of a lot more fun than the joker in front of her. For the third time in two weeks Gail had succumbed to her mother's wishes and gone out with one of her eligible bachelors. She wasn't even sure why she was agreeing to go on these dates, her mother had terrible taste in men with the exception of her father. Each guy was worse than the one before and it was driving Gail crazy, did her mom seriously think that she would like any of these potential suitors? She had nothing in common with any of them and she couldn't find it in her to even pay attention to what they had to say. But everyone was telling her that after the Nick fiasco she needed to put herself out there and try to be happy so she was trying. So far the longest a date had gone was to the ordering of appetizers stage or in the case of that guy the lack of ordering (who doesn't want pre-meal snacks?). No she was wasting her time with these idiots. The truth was that lately liked she only liked being around Holly. The pathologist always had some weird factoid to share that even when it was something was unbelievably gross like how eating too much can in fact cause your stomach to rupture (a fact that had made Gail cut back on the cheese puffs for a week) she still found herself listening to every word and remembering it. Gail couldn't even remember what this guy's name was...something lame like Bob or Joe.

"Gail? Umm Gail are you even listening to me?"

Gail broke out of her trance and looked up from her now luke warm coffee. "Huh? I mean yes?"

Maybe his name was Dave, whatever it was he looked somewhat upset, "You haven't heard I word I was saying!"

Gail knew she was caught but she didn't have the energy to lie so she lifted her hands off the table in a surrender gesture, "Nope, honestly I zoned out the minute you started talking about mutual funds." Gail stood and grabbed her jacket, "I am not sure if it's you or me, pretty sure it is you, but this isn't going to go anywhere so I am going to go. Best of luck on your next blind date." Bob/Joe/Dave sat there dumbfounded as he watched her leave. She checked the time on her phone it was still early, maybe Holly would want to grab some dinner.

Holly pov

She set her book down as she looked at the clock on her mantle, Gail had told her that her latest superintendent approved date was at 5:30 it was now 6, if the pattern held Gail should be texting any minute now. Holly took off her glasses and rubbed her brow, deep down she knew that she was headed for trouble with the cop but she found herself not caring. Gail was fun, she had this attitude about her that caused others to shy away from her but only brought Holly closer to her and it didn't hurt that she was beautiful in a way that no adjective could properly describe her. Okay so Gail was straight and that definitely was a setback but lately Holly had noticed a shift in the way Gail was around her; there was more unnecessary touching, granted it was brief moments where Gail would grab her hand to pull her into an arcade or holding her by her waist to push her towards the kitchen to fix her a grilled cheese sandwich but they still counted as touching. Then there was the fact that Gail had taken to sleeping over whenever she had more than a few drinks or when it was too late to walk safely home (something that Holly had insisted on), it felt unbelievably natural to have Gail roll over in her sleep and find Holly and hold her. Holly groaned, she sounded like a love sick teenager and not a mature adult but a lot of the time Gail made her feel like she was a kid again. She took a sip from her almost empty beer, almost as if on cue Holly's phone chimed indicating a new message. She put her glasses back on to read:

_Officer Cheesepuff: I need nourishment and conversation that isn't about potato futures. The only potato futures I want to think about are how fast they can be turned into fries._

Holly had to laugh as she shook her head and typed her response.

_So no second date?_

Two seconds later came her answer.

_Office Cheesepuff: Not for all the doughnuts in Toronto. So what do you say?_

Holly knew that this was Gail speak for 'Do you want to go get some dinner?' but she liked to rile the other girl up a bit.

_What was the question?_

_Officer Cheesepuff: Dinner nerd_

_Dinner? As in do I want to have dinner with you? Or are you just spouting off random words?_

Holly had to wait several minutes for Gail to text back.

_Officer Cheesepuff: You had better be home._

She didn't have a chance to reply before there was a thud at her door. "Lunchbox let me in! I have pizza and beer." She heard Gail call through the door.

Holly got up and crossed the room into the kitchen stealing a quick glance in the mirror, her hair was in a sloppy ponytail and some loose wisps had found their way into her eyes, she speedily pulled the band free and shook out her hair. Taking a deep breath she opened the door to see Gail awkwardly holding a large pizza box and two six packs of Holly's favorite beer all while holding her phone between her ear and shoulder. Gail rolled her eyes and mouthed 'mother' as she unceremoniously passed off the pizza and beer into Holly's hands before walking into the kitchen and sitting on one of the stools by the counter. "I know mother it was rude of me to just leave him there but honestly it wasn't going anywhere. No mother I don't think that I will like him better after a second date." Gail was silent for a few minutes as she held the phone away from her ear and nodded along even though her mother could not see her actions. "Okay, okay fine but not next week, I need a break. Seriously mother my ovaries are not going to shrivel up and die in the next week…Yes mother that was rather crude of me but it doesn't make it any less true. Okay mother I have to go now my phone battery is about to die…yes I know I should be more responsible and keep my phone properly charged. Bye mother." With a groan Gail dropped her phone and dramatically dropped her head down to the counter. "Holly my mother is insane if she thinks that I am going to give her grandchildren with any of these guys. I would rather become a nun Holly…a nun."

Holly laughed as she set the pizza and beer on the counter next to Gail's head. "I think you swear a little too much to be a nun. Would you take a vow of silence? Because I think you would struggle with that as well." She teased as Gail lifted her head and scowled in her direction.

"Okay fine not a nun…maybe I should just play for your team." Gail said casually as she opened one of the beers and handed it to Holly. "I might make an excellent lesbian."

Holly's heart beat a little faster at what she knew was a joke but nonetheless made her feel a bit giddy. "What makes you say that?" Holly replied in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone.

Gail smirked as she got up to grab plates that were in the drying rack, left there from their dinner the night before. "My good looks for one, my incredible wit for two and thirdly I happen to look amazing in flannel."

Holly shook her head as she grabbed one of the plates from Gail's hands, "You know there is more to being a lesbian right? You remember the part about having sex with woman?"

Gail rolled her eyes as she loaded her plate with several slices of meatlovers sauce-less pizza and wandered over to the couch. "Duh Holly I figured that much."

Holly followed her into the living room and sat in the chair that was kitty corner to the couch and ate silently for a few minutes, digesting both the pizza and Gail's words. She listened as Gail went on to describe her date for the evening and while she was paying attention she was getting a lost in her own thoughts of what if Gail really meant what she just said? Holly set her plate down that still had pizza on it but her stomach was too nervous to eat, she finished her beer and was thankful that she brought two into the living room with her and guzzled the alcohol down quickly as she mustered the courage to say the words that had been plaguing her mind for a few weeks. "Gail…"

The blonde looked up from her now almost empty plate and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin, "Yeah Hols?"

The pathologist cleared her throat and set her plate down on the coffee table, "I…I…umm…" Holly took a deep breath and started again. "If you are having such a bad time with these dates maybe you should try something different."

"Like what? Going out with the guys that Steve keeps pawning off on me? Or Traci's cousin that she is always mentioning…"

It was now or never for Holly so she went for it, "I was thinking me…you should go out with me."

And with those words the room went silent and Holly felt like she wanted to take back the words and at the same time celebrate having the courage to finally say them. She watch Gail's face for a sign of what she was thinking but her expression appeared to have frozen in a state of shock. It was several long minutes before the blonde spoke evenly, "Holly what are you saying?"

It was hard to gauge how Gail was dealing with what she had just said so Holly took a moment to come up with the right words which proved to be a hard task. She bit her lower lip and only released it when she tasted blood. "The thing is Gail depending on how you look at it we have kind of been dating for a few weeks."

Gail sat up a little straighter and narrowed her eyes, "How do you figure that?"

Holly couldn't help the nervous fidgeting but tried to still herself, "Look at us; I am pretty sure we haven't gone a day since we met without seeing each other, I had to change my cell phone plan to include unlimited texting because you and your text happy fingers ran me up a $600 phone bill." She saw a hint of a smirk from the blonde from that statement so she continued. "We have dinner together almost every night, you sleep here so often that I am pretty sure that the last load of laundry I did had more of your clothes in it than my own."

Gail shrugged her shoulders, "Okay…so we have been spending a lot of time together…if I was getting on your nerves you could have said something…"

Getting up from her seat to stand in front of the couch, Holly shook her head vehemently, "No no no no…you are not getting it…um let me um…Gail I like having you around, I _really_ like being around you. I like you Gail."

Just once Holly wished that Gail's stoic face would betray her and give Holly some sign of what the blonde was thinking but it remained emotionless. Holly wanted to crawl into a one of her morgue drawers and die but then Gail broke the silence. "You like me? As in attracted to me?" All Holly could muster up at that point was a small nod. "You don't care that I am this huge mess that has never had a healthy relationship in my life? I am not exaggerating when I say that I have baggage Holly, I'm a literal luggage store of baggage. Not to mention my job, I am a cop Holly…I go to work every day knowing that all hell could break loose and I might not come home. Do you understand that?"

Hearing Gail lay it all out like that hit Holly like a sledgehammer, it wasn't that she hadn't thought about all the chaos that came along with Gail but hearing her say it made it more real. But it didn't change how she felt about the woman. "I do Gail, I know these things." She said quietly trying to catch Gail's gaze.

Gail sighed as she laced her fingers behind her head and looked down, "I don't get it Holly."

"What don't you get? That I like you or that I understand?"

Gail looked up and Holly could see the cop's piercing blue eyes start to water, "Both."

Holly sat on the couch next to the object of her affection, "I don't know how it happened but somewhere between you trying to kick me out of my own crime scene and you attempting to explain the weird meat cocktail that Chris made you drink; you became more than a friend to me. Being around you makes me happy even when you are making fun of me or telling me that I smell. Now I will understand if you don't have any feelings for me…I mean I know that you are straight..." her words cut off with a pair of soft lips on her own. It took her a moment for her to realize what was happening…Gail was kissing her…actually kissing her. Not a peck on her cheek or forehead but full on lip on lip contact. This was not a friendly kiss, this was a kiss that was full of need with a dash of confusion. It was then that Holly realized that she wasn't kissing Gail back and rectified that quickly. Her hands found the back of Gail's neck and pulled her closer as their lips moved in unison. As much as she didn't want it to end air was becoming an issue and Holly pulled back a bit breathless and just stared at the woman who left her in this state.

"I guess I like you too." Gail finally said as she rested her head on Holly's.

"Yeah?"

Even though she couldn't see it she could practically feel the smirk on Gail's face as she said, "Well I don't exactly make it a habit of kissing people I don't like."

"Fair enough."

"So where are we going on our date?" Gail asked as she pulled away, a smile on her face.

Holly was certain she had never been so happy to hear anyone say those words to her but tried to play it cool. "I was thinking of taking you to the batting cages."

"Uh no."

"Ah come on it will be fun and there will be beer." Holly tried to sweeten the deal.

"Holly if I wanted balls flying at my head I would stick to dating men."

"Eww, you didn't need to go there Gail…fine no batting cages. How about dancing? You love dancing."

Gail pondered the suggestion and then nodded, "Okay, you may lure me to gay side."

"You make it sound like I am Darth Vader." Holly laughed as Gail found her hand. "Don't take this the wrong way but I thought that I was going to have to work a lot harder to convince you to try this with me."

"Honestly it did throw me, I wasn't expecting it but then again I wasn't really expecting you to come into my life either. You are the ever evolving surprise Holly. The weird thing is that I feel more like me around you than I ever have with anyone else. One of the first things they teach you in the academy is that you need to trust your instincts and all my life I have seconded guessed mine, either because of my mother or my exes…I hate having that doubt but with you everything in me screams that you are a good choice…my choice."

Holly couldn't help the smile that spread over her entire face, "I am pretty sure that you will always be my choice."

Gail opened her beer and clinked bottles with Holly, "Good because you are stuck with me now lunchbox, I hope you know what you have gotten yourself into."

Holly could honestly say that she had no idea what lie ahead for them but she couldn't wait to find out.


End file.
